Debates A Better Way To Spend Tax Dollars

KINGSLEY GUY EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

July 28, 2000|KINGSLEY GUY EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

The major party nominating conventions have morphed into four-day cheezy advertising blitzes for the Republicans and Democrats. They aren't news events anymore. They're public relations extravaganzas that are corrupting the political process.

It wasn't always this way. Through the first half of the 20th century, the conventions brought together politically minded people so they could do the actual work of nominating presidential and vice presidential candidates and formulating party platforms.

The smoke-filled rooms of the nominating conventions served up candidates like Chester A. Arthur and Warren G. Harding, but they also gave the nation Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt. It's open to debate whether the candidates of the modern era, nominated in state primaries, are any better than those nominated by the party bosses of yore.

Regardless, the primary election process has turned the conventions into anachronisms. George W. Bush won't be nominated next week at the GOP convention in Philadelphia. He'll be anointed, as will Al Gore two weeks later as Democrats gather in Los Angeles. The major party presidential candidates captured all the delegates they needed months ago with their victories in the primaries. So there's no real need for conventions, other than to showcase the candidates.

You might not know it, but you're helping to pay the bills for these quadrennial exercises in political advertising. Each party receives $13 million in federal tax dollars for its convention. That's not nearly enough to pay for everything, however, so the parties rely on corporations, unions and other special interests to help out.

Among those giving more than $1 million in cash, services or merchandise are General Motors, AT&T, ARCO, Microsoft, Motorola and Comcast.

The special interests aren't helping to pick up the convention tabs out of the kindness of their hearts. They're looking for a return on their investments, and they'll probably get it as the major parties further sell their souls to those with the big checkbooks.

But what are taxpayers receiving for their combined donation of $26 million to the Republican and Democratic shindigs? Not much. The carefully scripted conventions aren't even entertaining anymore.

The tax dollars used on the conventions would be put to a lot better use underwriting an extensive series of debates among all serious presidential and vice presidential candidates, which would include those of the Reform, Libertarian, Green and Natural Law parties. That way, voters would be presented with political ideas rather than political puffery.

Such debates won't happen, unfortunately. The major parties call the shots and they have no intention of relinguishing their political monopoly, or the taxpayer dollars that are helping to pay for all those balloons.

Editorial Page Editor Kingsley Guy may be contacted at kguy@sun-sentinel.com.